A race between Thai and Anglo-Dutch runners appeared to be falling in favour
of Shell last night after the Mozambique oil explorer Cove Energy accepted a
takeover bid.

The Anglo-Dutch giant lifted its cash bid for Cove to 220p a share, above the
195p it announced in February and mirroring a rival offer that values Cove
at £1.12 billion from Thailand’s state-backed energy group PTTEP.

However, PTTEP indicated yesterday that it could yet try to steal victory,
saying that it was “considering options”.

Shares in Cove rose by 4.6 per cent to 227p as hopes grew among investors that
the